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No. 7 Stanford Clashes With No. 25 WSU, No. 3 Washington This Week

THIS WEEK: The Cardinal hosts the top two teams in the conference this weekend at Maples Pavilion. Stanford will face No. 25 Washington State (3-1 Pac-10), Friday, Oct. 9 and third-ranked Washington (4-0 Pac-10), Saturday, Oct. 10. Both matches are scheduled for 7 p.m.

LOOKING AHEAD: Stanford will hit the road again, traveling to Corvallis, Ore., to take on the Oregon State Beavers, Friday, Oct. 16 at 7 p.m. The Cardinal will then face No. 11 Oregon, Saturday, Oct. 17 in Eugene, Ore.

CATCH THE CARDINAL: This week’s match versus Washington will be televised by FSN. Fan’s can catch both matches on KZSU radio at 90.1 FM or online at http://kzsu.stanford.edu/. Live stats will also be available both nights via Gametracker at www.GoStanford.com.

SOCIAL NETWORKING: Stanford Volleyball has joined Facebook and Twitter! Become a fan on Facebook by searching for the “Stanford Women’s Volleyball” page. Follow the Cardinal at twitter.com/StanfordWVB to get updates on the team this season. Both sites will be updated live during matches this year.

GAME DAY PROMOTIONS: Friday’s match has been tabbed Stanford Campus and Campers Reunion Night. Fans will receive $2 general admission with a hospital or faculty/staff ID. Campers will be addmitted free with their coupon. Saturday’s match against the Huskies will be poster/autopgraph and dorm/greek night. It will be the only autograph session with the Cardinal players this season.

CHALK TALK/HOSPITALITY ROOM: The dates for the 2009 Chalk Talk and Hospitality Room for members of the Buck/Cardinal Club have been set. Coach Dunning’s chalk talks will take place at 5 p.m. in the Maples Media Room this Saturday, Oct. 10 vs. Washington,. The other dates are set for Oct. 31 vs. UCLA, Nov. 14 vs. Oregon State and Nov. 27 vs. California. The hospitality room will be availabe postgame Oct. 25 vs. Arizona and Nov. 14 vs. Oregon State in the Maples VIP Room.

LAST WEEK: Stanford defeated its first ranked opponents of the season, defeating then-No. 16 UCLA, 3-1, and sweeping then-No. 13 USC. Junior Alix Klineman turned in her best performances of the year, combining for a team-leading 47 kills, while adding 21 digs and six solo blocks. Junior Cassidy Lichtman recorded her fourth triple-double of the season at USC with 12 kills, 13 assists and 14 digs.

ALL-AMERICAN FIREPOWER: Stanford returns two-time All-American Alix Klineman for the 2009 season. The junior outside hitter is one of the nation’s six returning first-team honorees, and one of only seven two-time All-Americans back for 2009. Klineman has led the team in kills in both of her first two seasons with the Cardinal. Stanford has won back-to-back Pac-10 championships and reached the national championship match during both of those years.

TRIPLE THREAT: Junior Cassidy Lichtman has played several different positions for the Cardinal in her career. Currently, Lichtman is second on the team with 157 kills (3.27 kps) and is hitting .295. She is also second on the squad with 167 assists and 122 digs. Lichtman more than doubled her career high in kills after registering 23 aginst LSU in the season opener. Against No. 5 Florida, Lichtman turned in her first career triple-double (16 kills, 17 assists, 11 digs) and versus San Jose State, the junior set a new career high, hitting .600 (10-1-15) against the Spartans. She now has four tiple-doubles on the season.

BLOCK PARTY: Senior Janet Okogbaa is fourth in the Pac-10 and ranks 28th nationally with 1.29 blocks per set. She registered a new career high with eight blocks against Florida on Sept. 4. Junior Alix Klineman’s five solo blocks at UCLA are the most by a Pac-10 player this season. As a team, Stanford is 32nd in the country with 2.54 blocks per set, posting a season-high 14 blocks at UCLA on Oct. 2.

CHASING 1,000:Alix Klineman posted her 1,000th-career kill in the opening set of the match against Saint Mary’s on Sept. 19. After posting a season- and team-high 24 kills at USC, the junior now has 1,079 career kills, becoming the 12th Cardianl player to reach that milestone. The All-american leads the team and is tied for sixth in the Pac-10 with 3.67 kills per set. She is on pace to finish her career at Stanford in the top-5 in career kills.

DIGGING HER WAY TO THE TOP: Junior libero Gabi Ailes has already claimed the top spot in the Stanford record book for digs in a season (533) and digs per set (4.26) in a season. With 1,236 digs to date, Ailes has jumped from 10th to seventh on the career list and will make a run for the record of 1,597 set by Kristin Richards from 2003-06. She needs six digs to move ahead of former teammate Cynthia Barboza into sixth place.

ALMOST PERFECT: Senior middle blocker Janet Okogbaa was 16-0-19 against Texas-San Antonio for a career high .842 hitting percentage on Sept. 10. At the Honolulu Avertiser Volleyball Challenge, the Tampa, Fla., native was 36-2-77 (4.00 kps) and a .608 attack percentage. She is third on the team with 162.5 points.

VETERAN LEADERSHIP: The 2009 Stanford squad will rely on its upperclassmen for leadership this year. The senior class of Joanna Evans, Alex Fisher and Janet Okogbaa holds an impressive 93-11 record through three seasons, earning three Pac-10 titles and three trips to the Final Four. Juniors Gabi Ailes, Alix Klineman and Cassidy Lichtman are all returning starters who have made significant contributions in their first two years on The Farm. Overall, the Cardinal boasts 10 players who have been to a national championship match, including six who have taken the team to the coveted match twice.

NATIONAL POLL: Stanford jumped four spots in the American Volleyball Coaches Association poll to No. 7, its highest ranking of the season. Last week, the Cardinal defeated No. 16 UCLA and No. 13 USC in Los Angeles. Defending national champion Penn State remains in the top spot in the poll, while Texas, Washington, Hawai’i and Minnesota round out the top-5.

CATCH A GLIMPSE: Four of the Cardinal’s conference matches will be televised on Fox Sports Net, including this week’s match versus Washington. The previous two weekends, the Cardinal have been televised, including at California and at USC. The other TV match for Stanford is scheduled for at Washington on Nov. 6.

PICKED THIRD: The Stanford women’s volleyball team was tabbed by the league’s coaches to finish third in the Pac-10. Stanford totaled 74 points in the preseason poll, six points below second-place California. Washington was the unanimous choice to win the conference. Once again, the Pac-10 sent six teams to the postseason in 2008. The conference has taken home five of the last eight NCAA titles. The coaches have correctly picked the Pac-10 champion in 13 of the previous 20 polls.

2008 IN REVIEW: In 2008, Stanford posted a 31-4 record and won an unprecedented 12th Pac-10 title. The team finished the year with a postseason run to its 14th NCAA title match, where it fell to Penn State in three sets. On the year, Stanford bested 16 ranked opponents, held a .314 average hitting percentage to just .164 by opponents, and won 23 matches by 3-0 margins. Three players - Foluke Akinradewo, Cynthia Barboza, Alix Klineman - were named First Team All-Americans, tying a school record for first team representatives. Akinradewo was also tabbed Volleyball Magazine Co-National Player of the Year after shattering the NCAA’s career hitting percentage record by more than 20 points.

TAKING ON THE BEST: Once again, head coach John Dunning has lined up one of the most challenging schedules in the nation for the Cardinal. Stanford is scheduled to play 12 regular-season matches against teams ranked in the preseason poll, and 10 against teams that participated in the 2008 NCAA Tournament. Four teams that made the preseason top-10 hail from the Pac-10 Conference.

HEAD COACH John Dunning: Beginning his ninth season at the helm of the Cardinal program, head coach John Dunning is one of the most accomplished coaches in the collegiate volleyball world. Dunning has four national championships under his belt, has taken his teams to nine Final Fours and carried six of his eight teams at Stanford to the national championship match.

MILESTONE FOR DUNNING: Head coach John Dunning is 15 victories away from 700 career-wins, and could reach that milestone in 2009. In 24 years as a head coach, Dunning is 685-143 (.827), giving him a winning percentage that ranks among the top five all-time for Division I coaches. Dunning is 248-41, now in his ninth season on The Farm, and the all-time winningest coach in Pac-10 history by percentage (.858).

SCOUTING WASHINGTON STATE: The Cougars come into this weekend’s match ranked No. 25 in the country, their first national ranking since 2003, and a 14-1 overall record. WSU is currently in second place in the Pac-10 (3-1). The Cougars are led by seniors Jackie Albright (3.32 kps, 2.94 dps) and Renee Bordelon (11.87 aps, 1.98 dps). Freshman libero Oceana Bush leads the team with 257 digs and broke the school record for digs in a match with 39 against Arizona State on Oct. 3.

THE SERIES WITH THE COUGARS: Stanford is 44-3 all-time against Washington State. Last season, the Cardinal swept the Cougars with two 3-0 victories, in fact the last six matches have been 3-0 Stanford wins. Stanford is undefeated at home (23-0) against WSU.

SCOUTING WASHINGTON: The Huskies are a perfect 14-0 in 2009 and have not dropped a set this season. Senior outside hitter Jill Collymore leads the team with 134 kills (3.35 kps), while junior setter Jenna Hagglund has controlled the offense with 423 assists (10.07 aps). Senior libero Tamari Miyashiro, the reigning two-time defensive player of the year, leads the Pac-10 with 5.19 digs per set.

THE SERIES WITH THE HUSKIES: The Cardinal holds a 43-9 overall record against the Huskies. Stanford won both meetings in 2008, 3-0. The last time the Huskies defeated the Cardinal in Maples Pavilion came during the 2007 season when UW came out on top in a five-set thriller.